Your strongest article is half written already — nobody has just put it on paper
When a customer is choosing between two companies, they do not want to read that you are “reliable professionals with an individual approach”. They want to see that you have already solved exactly the problem they have. A case study — a plain “here is how we did it for a customer on the next street” — is therefore the strongest content a small company can put on its website.
And yet almost nobody writes one. The reason is always the same: “Our jobs are not interesting. We replaced a boiler, ran some wiring, set up a warehouse system — what is there to write about?”
But the customer is not looking for interesting. They are looking for certainty. Someone whose boiler at home is getting old types questions like “replacing a boiler in an older house experiences” into a search engine and into an AI assistant. A company that has an ordinary boiler replacement in an older house written up on its website — with the problem, the process and the numbers — answers that question. A company with nothing but a “we replace boilers” page answers nobody.
This article is a guide to writing a case study from one ordinary job in a single afternoon. No marketing degree required, using a five-paragraph template.
Why the “ordinary” job beats the exceptional one
Instinct says to write about the biggest or most unusual job you have ever done. That is usually a mistake, for two reasons.
First: hardly anyone searches for the exceptional job. Rewiring a heritage-listed villa is a great story, but customers with a heritage villa are a handful. Customers with a flat where the breakers trip every time the kettle goes on number in the thousands — and they describe their problem in similar words to the ones they then search with.
Second: a study works as a magnet for similar enquiries. So write it about the work you want to repeat — work you are good at, enjoy doing and earn money on. Write up a job you lost money on and you will attract more loss-makers.
A good candidate for your first study meets three conditions:
- It repeats. You handle a similar problem several times a year.
- It paid off. The margin and the course of the work were such that you want more of it.
- It has a visible result. Something can be photographed, counted or compared before and after.
If you are unsure whether people even search for your type of work, you can check before you start writing — an initial analysis goes through the real queries in your field and says which jobs are worth writing up first and which question they should target.
The five-paragraph template
A case study is not an essay or a press release. It is a structured account of one job that fits into five paragraphs:
| Paragraph | What goes in it | What it answers for the reader |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The starting problem | The situation in the customer’s words | “Is this exactly our case?” |
| 2. The cause | Why the problem arose | “Do they understand it?” |
| 3. The process | What you did and what you decided | “How would it go for us?” |
| 4. Numbers and result | Measurable proof, photos | “Did it turn out well?” |
| 5. Advice to the reader | What it means for them + the next step | “What should I do now?” |
1. The starting problem: the situation as the customer described it
The first paragraph describes what the customer came with — in their words, not yours. “A lady from a family house outside Brno rang to say that for the second winter running the boiler would not heat the upper floor and her gas bills were going up.” Not: “The client requested optimisation of the heating system.”
It also needs the context that lets the reader recognise themselves: the type of house or premises, the age of the equipment, what the customer had already tried on their own. The more specific the situation, the stronger the “that is us” effect. The customer’s words have one more advantage: they are also the words that people with the same problem type into a search engine — so the headline and the opening paragraph aim straight at them.
2. Why the problem arose
The second paragraph explains the cause. This is where expertise shows — not through certificates on the wall, but through your ability to say clearly what happened and why. “The boiler was sized for the house before insulation. After the windows were replaced it was oversized: it switched on and off every few minutes, which eats gas and shortens its life.”
Someone who can explain the why will be believed on the how as well. And do not be afraid to admit what turned out differently from expected on site — an honestly described snag reads as more credible than a smooth story without a single complication.
3. The process: what you did and what you decided along the way
The third paragraph describes the solution — but not as a list of tasks. Describe the decisions: why this option and not a cheaper or pricier one, what you talked the customer out of and why, how long each part took.
Decision points are more valuable to the reader than technical detail, because the same decisions are waiting for them too. “The customer originally wanted a like-for-like replacement. After recalculating the heat loss we proposed a third less output — and that is exactly the kind of thing you cannot estimate over the phone.”
4. Numbers and result
The fourth paragraph provides the proof. Anything measurable: consumption before and after, how long the work took, the number of complaints since handover (zero is a number too), before-and-after photographs. The numbers do not have to be stunning — they have to be true. Readers can sense invented superlatives, and a single inflated figure drags down the credibility of the whole website; and never wave guarantees or miracles around either.
If you do not have exact numbers or the customer does not want them published, describe the result another way: what works now, what the customer says, what has not needed attention since handover.
Price is sensitive, and that is precisely why it is valuable. If you can state it, state it — as a range, say, with an explanation of what made it up. Customers put off by the price were never going to be yours anyway; the rest will appreciate your straight dealing. And link the study to the pricing on your website so the reader has the range to hand — just as we do with our pricing.
5. What anyone with the same problem should know
The last paragraph turns from the past job to the reader. Sum up what it means for anyone facing the same thing: what to watch out for, what to have ready, when to stop waiting. And say what they should do now — call, send a photo, book an inspection. How to phrase that next step so it reads as help rather than advertising is covered in the model for an article that brings in enquiries.
Customer consent and photos
Before publishing, ask the customer whether you may name them. A sentence most people say yes to: “We would like to describe your job on our website as an example — may we give your name and photos, or should we write it up without a name?” You are offering a choice, not an ultimatum. With private individuals, name them only with clear consent; with companies a name helps more and is usually easier to get.
A satisfied customer who agrees to being named will usually add a few sentences of feedback as well. Those come in useful twice: as a quote inside the study and as a review — signed proof from a specific job carries different weight than anonymous praise, much as with Google reviews.
Take photos as you go, not once the job is finished. A shot of the work in progress is proof no stock library can offer — and customers and search engines alike can tell your own job photos apart.
Where to put the study and what to link it to
A study on its own does not work. Its strength is in the links:
- From the study to the service page. A reader who recognised themselves in the story wants to know exactly what you offer and how to order it. The link belongs in the body of the text, not down in the footer — and what the page you send them to should look like is described in the guide to a service page.
- From the service page to the studies. A sentence saying “here is how it turned out for three customers”, with links, is the cheapest proof you can get onto a service page.
- From quotes and emails. A study is not only for search engines. Attach it to a price quote — it answers objections before the customer raises them.
And write the headline as a situation, not as a testimonial: “Replacing a boiler in a house after insulation: why lower output was enough” will be found by more people than “Testimonial: family house, Bílovice”.
The most common mistakes that stop a study selling
- It reads as a celebration of the company. “We were delighted to be able to take part…” — the reader is not interested in you, they are interested in their problem.
- The cause is missing. Just “what we did” without “why it was needed” does not persuade, and it cannot be found by the questions people ask.
- Jargon instead of the customer’s words. Nobody searches for “heating system optimisation”; “boiler will not heat the upper floor” they do.
- A dead end. A study with no link to the service and no next step will delight the reader — and let them leave.
- Results without proof. Superlatives without numbers or photos are just more advertising talk.
How to tell the study is working
Search visibility builds over weeks to months, so do not judge it after a fortnight. Watch three things: which queries the page appears for in Search Console, how many people moved from it to the service page, and whether it shows up on the path to enquiries — that is, whether people say on the phone “I read about that boiler job on your site”. The detailed measurement procedure is described in How to tell whether content is paying off.
The first study is the hardest. The second takes half the time, because the template stays the same — only the job changes. A sensible rhythm for a small company is one study every month or two; after a year your website has six to twelve pieces of proof selling around the clock.
And if there is no time for writing, or it simply does not come easily, you do not have to do it alone: as part of content creation and management we turn your notes and photos from the job into a finished study — you supply the material, we handle the craft of the text. And if you do not know which job to start with, an initial analysis will show which problems in your field people are searching for most.
